Kyle's Project
As of today the Mod is Hosted here http://www.modcenter.com/sf/projects/journeyman_puss_in_boots Research to date covers the majority of the weapons expected to be in the game, reference for soldier uniforms and a small amount on civilian clothing. Lost of animal reference skeleton pictures, drawings and stuffed animal photos, A large collection of general pictures from inspirational sources for concepts And Architectural books for the Georgian era.. (Currently the most irritating thing to pin down is locations and building design). Story. Set in 1752-5 (date pending completion of research) The English countryside and even some cities are being stalked by a vicious creature, coaches and trade caravans have been found in ruins, horses and people alike torn in half, bite marks as wide as a mans torso and ratings of babbling survivors the only clues as to what it is and what it wants. To counter this threat and with orders to kill the beats by any means necessary, the Journeyman is forced into service, a stranger condemned to hang for crimes against the crown, is saved in exchange for his service to the crown. A master huntsman and animal tracker he is charged with eliminating the threat, or forfeiting his life. To add to his troubles he is not the only person chasing the prize, as people and livestock are slaughtered the price on the creatures head continues to rise, attracting the attention of bounty hunters and mercenaries from all over the country and some even further a field. The concept. Play style. The style of the mod is intended to be FPS/RPG, all combat and movement is FPS (except horse riding, carriage driving/fighting) with the RPG elements being primarily conversation with NPC's shop keepers and inventory mechanics/ammo/amour ect. The bulk of the game will be spent in the country side, either tracking/following the animal(s) or carrying out side quests, some of which just earn money to be spent on equipment, while others are linked into the main story. The main story itself places the player living out public houses, traveling back and forth between towns and cities (London, as well as 2-3 more),the story involves the other mercenaries and some soldiers in their attempts to catch/kill the beast. some levels later in the game will make it possible to permanently harm the creature to such an extent that the damage carries over to every level hence forth. The character also has the possibility to be set upon while traveling across the levels in random encounters by the creature other wild animals and bandits. Squad based AI, is somewhat of an idea, thinking particularly group battles/hunts for bandits/the creature. Note. There is going to be a Steam punk influence, so architecture, weapons/amour and the entire world will have a slight twist to it, for example some guns very late in the game will have scopes or auto loads (ect). Think Van-Helsing but even then tone it down a bit. Locations. As of yet London is the only fixed location, Southampton, Leeds and Manchester are currently under consideration, other locations will be small villages and rolling countryside/forest. Note. All locations will be revisit-able. Weapons. Keeping in the theme of the piece it should be edged weapons, flint lock, and a crossbow as the powerhouse weapon. Note. Reload times are realistic. 20-30 seconds to reload a pistol. so if you fire all your guns better make sure your going to kill what your shooting at or else. Note. The player will be encouraged to carry several small arms, shooting and switching between all to enable continuous fire at a target, then having to pick a location to reload before continuing. So somewhat realistic loading times on weapons is acceptable, especially if you take into account the game wont be constantly gun heavy, RPG elements, talking.!! will be a large part, as will exploring, add to this that most enemies will go down with one or two hits and you have the scenario where unless your fighting something big you shouldn’t empty all your weapons Some system by where entering a "Safe" zone such as a tavern (non-combat zone) automatically reloads all weapons, as well as entering a new level should make it a matter of just not wasting all your shots while in combat.. Almost all will be correct to the era, but one or two may be an anachronism such as the multi barrel volley gun Transportation. Horse is the main mode of transport, hopefully (and quite possible the most complex thing to add to the game is a semi intelligent horse and system by where it avoids trees. The plan is you can move it round as normal, riding between and across each level. And when shooting the view changes to FPS and the horse will move around trees on its own while you shoot in any direction. This typically comes to mind with a scenario involving the creature chasing you, it is technically a little faster than the horse, but by shooting it you wound and slow it down enough to escape. The second is coach; the same situation being added to by the fact either the coach or the occupant is a mission critical, defending the coach from enemies on a path between levels. The third is on foot which needs no explanation Travel. To make the distances between towns and cities mean something to the player there will be NO fast travel unless part of a mission/cut scene, so the player will have to ride horse or coach through several levels of road, either being rolling hills, forest or urban sprawl. This will not be an accurate representation of the distance (I.E. two-tree days of actual play to get somewhere that would be stupid but something to just give the impression of traveling as opposed to just appearing there. This also opens up the way for random encounters with wild animals/ highway men. "Obnoxious" travel times are a matter of perhaps two-three minutes acceptable in my opinion. No fasts (instant travel) but not real time either. Game mechanics Conversation. The mod would require a conversation system similar to Vampire bloodlines, where the screen locks onto the character being spoken to and text is displayed and chosen to direct the conversation, this would also result in a system for choosing missions/jobs and buying items. Additionally run of the mill NPC’s will respond when spoken to but will not engage the above mentioned system unless important to the player/story. Combat will be typical FPS, as the RPG element to the game is targeted at being the items/upgrading of weapons and the conversation system as opposed to stat and level building. In regards to killing the beast the player should have several opportunities, specific locations towards the end of the game upon which they will have the chance to win, but it will not be like most boss battles where the fight has to end with the boss dying, the player has the capacity to fail and be required to continue the game until another opportunity presents itself (these will however be obvious moments).